Media streaming services enhance the ease and convenience with which end users view streaming video content, such as VOD, OTT television content, and placeshifted content. Media streaming services are, however, inherently limited by resource constraints affecting network reliability and bandwidth availability. When network bandwidth becomes undesirably constrained during a streaming video session, latencies may occur resulting in prolonged buffering and other delays in the presentation of streaming video content. Network latencies can also result in sluggish response times in implementing user-issued commands during a streaming video session, such as channel change commands issued when streaming OTT television content. Adaptive streaming techniques have thus been developed and are now widely employed to enhance streaming media performance despite network bandwidth variances.
While useful in improving streaming video performance under constrained bandwidth conditions, conventional adaptive streaming techniques remain limited in certain respects. By their nature, conventional adaptive streaming techniques leverage controlled degradations to image resolutions and video frame rate to bring about desired reductions in streaming bitrate. Depending upon their severity at any given point in time, such degradations to streaming frame rate and to image resolution can become highly noticeable and distracting to end users. Consequently, the application of conventional adaptive streaming techniques can detract from the viewing experience of an end user in at least some instances. There consequently exists an ongoing need for enhanced streaming techniques through which controlled reductions to streaming bitrate can be achieved with a decreased reliance on degradations to streaming video frame rate and image resolution. Embodiments of such enhanced adaptive streaming techniques are set-forth herein, as are systems suitable for implementing enhanced adaptive streaming techniques.